Andrew, Greg, and Victoria just blinked at Ver'varia after her revelation. "Well… that makes sense." Greg chuckled after a moment, shaking his head. "Of course we run into the one person in town with a personal grudge against the Elf King."

Ver'varia paused. "I- suppose it is a rather astounding coincidence… though, Jer'tunal has probably offended enough people that you could find someone with a personal grudge against him in any town." She sighed. "The man is a menace, and I would support your cause even without my own personal reasons. They do make things more satisfying though."

Greg barked out a laugh. "Now that's a mindset I can get behind! Just because you aren't doing something for your own satisfaction doesn't mean you can't be satisfied anyway."

"Right…" Ver'varia muttered, giving him a weird look. "However, if I am to be of any help to you at all, I would first need to become a cultivator. As I am now, I'm of no help to anyone." She added with a grimace.

Greg rolled his eyes. "And now you're back to thinking like Andrew. Power isn't everything, woman! Your ability helped you discover literal gods in hiding! Not that we're particularly good at hiding, but still! Don't sell yourself short just because you can't punch a hole through someone. Punching holes through people solves like… ten percent of our actual problems, honestly. Even with the Elf King, sure, we kill him, but then what? Now we have a freaking nation to run! Can't punch your way out of that. You need brains and time, which just so happens to be your skillset."

Ver'varia shook her head. "But without the power to punch through someone, you wouldn't be in a position to even think about leading a nation. It may not solve all your problems, but it is what puts you in a position to have those problems. Without it, you're simply at the mercy of those who have it."

"Maybe if you intend to run a nation like a tyrant, but in a civilized nation, all you require is the support of the people." Victoria retorted. "Though… I suppose the people who support you do need the power to keep you there." She muttered with a frown. "Otherwise… Well, viva la revolution. Or hail to the conquerors, I suppose? I don't know a catchy slogan for invaders… probably because they tend not to characterize themselves as invaders. They're liberators or something dumb like that."

"You say, as we invade for the purpose of overthrowing a tyrant and 'liberating' the nation." Andrew commented blandly.

Victoria glared at him. "I am fully willing to admit that we're invaders. I have no problem with that, because sometimes invasion is necessary. It's just dumb to pretend you aren't invading simply because you think it makes you look bad."

"In any case, I still can't see how useful I'll be without the ability to cultivate." Ver'varia interjected.

"Trust me, if our plans depended on fighting, we'd already be done. Especially since I got my hand on that sword." Greg replied. "Hell, I could float in, turn old Jer-Jer's bed to C-4 and bam! Problem solved."

Ver'varia frowned. She was relying on her ability a lot to keep up with this conversation. "I- see. Then what are you waiting for?"

"Well, for one, we need Chris around to claim the Blood Bow." Victoria replied. "We don't want the nation to get destroyed because you lost your protection. Also, it's relatively pointless if we kill him only for the nation to fall to shambles, so we need to figure out what the political situation is and who we need to deal with."

"And who we need to 'deal' with." Greg chuckled. "I can't imagine Jer'tunal is the only asshole in power at the moment."

"Right." Victoria nodded. "Our plan right now is to work our way deeper into the kingdom as traveling merchants, seeing what we can learn about who we should ally with and who we need to remove from power, even better if we can set some people up to take over once Jer'tunal is taken care of. We should try to make the transition as smooth as possible. As Greg said, getting rid of Jer'tunal is the easy part. The trouble is everything that comes after."

Ver'varia nodded slowly. "So, you're using your identities as traveling merchants as a pretext to meet with various nobles and establish alliances with them. Since he can create any rare material you want, it gives you an excuse to seek a meeting, since the nobility would be the most likely to both want and be able to afford such things."

Victoria blinked. "That- is a better plan than we had."

"We were just going to wander around and see what came up. Usually works out for us." Greg chuckled.

Ver'varia frowned. "That- seems less thought out than I would appreciate from people planning on leading my nation."

"You're not wrong." Victoria sighed. "But to be fair, we came up with this plan like two days ago, and we're more focused on getting established as merchants at the moment."

"I suppose that's fair." Ver'varia muttered, crossing her arms. "But then, again, I must ask what place there is for me in all this."

"Haven't I been saying it this entire time?" Greg raised an eyebrow at her, grinning slightly. "You have a brain, and all the time you need to use it. That is valuable. Hell, you figured out me and Andrew were lying and played it cool enough that we thought we got away with it! Then you set it up so you could get a look at our abilities without making us suspicious at all, figuring out our abilities weren't completely natural. We could use someone like that helping us out. Maybe you could even come with us… actually, that's a pretty good idea. We can't even read Elvish, and we know little to nothing about Elven culture. If we had you take over all the talking and whatnot, it could make things a lot easier for us."

"You- want me to become a traveling merchant with you?" Ver'varia blinked.

"Sure, why not?" Greg shrugged. "You weren't going to be staying here after becoming a cultivator anyway, were you? Why not come with us?"

Ver'varia frowned, considering the suggestion for a moment. She did plan on leaving after becoming a cultivator, though not immediately. She needed to build up her cultivation first, or she'd barely be better than she was now. Plus, she'd need to pack up her shop, finish all the orders she still had waiting, and make sure she wasn't leaving the town high and dry. Then she'd need to focus on hunting, gathering ability cores to build her cultivation even higher… Honestly, she wasn't sure what she was going to do after becoming a cultivator, she just knew she wouldn't be able to do anything until after she did. If she could help these people take down Jer'tunal… "I have conditions."

"What kind?" Greg asked.

"I still want to be a cultivator, and I need to be free to do what I need to do to cultivate." Ver'varia began. "Additionally, you must do your best to assure my safety while I do, until I have the power to defend myself."

"We were planning on doing that anyway." Greg shrugged. "Plus, we can do all that just by connecting you to Chris's world."

Ver'varia frowned. "You keep talking about this connection. What exactly does it entail?"

"Well, Chris has this world, well, is a world, which he can connect people to, making them immortal. Like, you literally can't die. You just get popped back into his world, perfectly healed. Additionally, he can allow people to mutate, like a Doppelganger, allowing them to improve their physique and ability, which should give you what you need to be a cultivator. Of course, this does give Chris some level of influence over you, but it's mostly just the fact that he can pop you in and out of his world at will and make you pay attention to him." Greg explained.

"He can make me pay attention to him?" Ver'varia raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, like, if he says something, you can't just ignore it. It doesn't force you to do anything, it just makes you pay attention." Andrew nodded.

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"I see… that doesn't seem so bad?" Ver'varia replied. "Compared to what's being offered at least."

"Yeah, no, it's fine, just…" Andrew sighed. "Freaking Chris."

"Is he annoying?" Ver'varia asked hesitantly.

"Not annoying no. He's just…" Andrew trailed off, turning to the others. "Guys?"

"No, no, go on." Greg grinned. "I want to hear this."

"Honestly, Chris is weird, but he isn't bad. He's just… Chris." Victoria shrugged.

Andrew grimaced. "I know he isn't bad, and honestly you're not going to have any issue being connected to his world ninety percent of the time. It's just- I don't know. Chris."

"That doesn't really tell me much." Ver'varia muttered.

"I know." Andrew sighed. "But you'll have to meet him anyway, so you'll see for yourself."

Ver'varia frowned at him for a moment, before shaking her head. "Very well. Then shall we proceed to the oath?" She asked, pulling out a small bone and placing it against her forehead. "I, Ver'varia-"

"Uh, what are you doing?" Andrew asked, interrupting her.

Ver'varia blinked. "I'm- taking an oath to not betray your secrets? How else could you trust me?"

"That- really isn't necessary." Andrew shook his head. "For one, you've already had plenty of chances to betray us, and you haven't, so I doubt that's going to change any time soon. And on the other… Well, I don't know what the consequences of breaking an oath are, but they're definitely worse than what would happen to us if you betrayed us. I mean, if we want to, we could disappear and come back with completely different identities and abilities."

"And then we can exact our own consequences for betraying us." Greg chuckled evilly. "No need to depend on some oath."

"I- see." Ver'varia lowered the bone with a twisted expression.

"I am curious about the oath though." Victoria commented. "What are the consequences and why did you need the bone for it?"

"It's an ability core." Ver'varia explained. "You focus on imprinting the oath on it, and the ability energy resonates with your own. If you break the oath, your ability energy will turn on you and collapse your core, destroying your ability and causing a serious injury or even death, depending on where your ability core is."

"Interesting." Victoria muttered. "How does that work?"

Ver'varia frowned. "You… focus on imprinting the oath on the core, and-"

"No, I got that, I mean like mechanically." Victoria interjected. "Like why does the ability energy in the core resonate with yours when you focus on making an oath? What causes it? Your intent? Are there other ways to create the resonance? What uses are there for it?"

"I- don't know." Ver'varia grimaced. "It's just known that if you concentrate on a core while making an oath, it's binding."

"Couldn't you just pretend to concentrate on the core? Fake the oath?" Greg pointed out.

Ver'varia shook her head. "No, if you do it right, it expends the core, causing it to crumble. It's rather obvious."

"Okay, which one of you wants to make an oath so I can see what happens." Victoria asked, looking between Andrew and Greg.

"It might be aura related, so I should watch too." Andrew commented.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll bite the bullet." Greg clicked his tongue, holding his hand out to Ver'varia. "Come on, give me the ability core."

"What- you can't take an oath just to study it! That- why would you risk crippling yourself like that?!?" Ver'varia exclaimed, looking between the three of them like they were insane.

Greg gave her a weird look. "Didn't I make it pretty clear I have multiple bodies? Who cares if this one gets crippled? It isn't like I can't make a hundred others."

"It doesn't just resonate with the ability energy in this body, it resonates with all your ability energy!" Ver'varia growled. "You aren't the only person who can create clones of yourself! It's been proven that the oath resonates across all bodies!"

Greg shook his head. "You still don't get who you're dealing with, do you? Our abilities have nothing to do with ability energy. I'll be fine."

Ver'varia froze. "How is that possible?"

"Good question." Greg chuckled. "We have no idea. We just kind of… are."

"Is- is that why you referred to yourselves as gods?" Ver'varia asked. She'd thought that was just Greg being ridiculous. The man seemed incapable of being serious for more than a couple minutes, max.

"Yup! Well, demonic gods, but ya know, same dif." Greg snickered.

Andrew groaned, burying his face in his hands. "We are not demonic gods! Stop saying that!"

"Never!" Greg retorted defiantly. "I am a chaotic beacon of justice! Fear my wrath!"

Victoria blinked, turning to Andrew. "Honestly, I was on your side, but 'chaotic beacon of justice' is absolutely what Greg is and it's the perfect description of a demonic god."

Andrew grimaced. "Fine, he can be a demonic god, but I'm not!"

"Okay, benevolent bringer of death." Greg snickered.

Victoria frowned. "That one doesn't hit quite the same way… I get more of a grandfatherly, old age death kind of vibe from it. Like a god welcoming you into the afterlife after a life well lived."

"Hmmm… benevolent life-stealer?" Greg offered.

Victoria snapped her fingers. "That hits right."

"I hate both of you." Andrew grumbled bitterly, before letting out a sigh. "What's Victoria?"

"Bringer of order and chaos?" Greg offered. "Harbinger of change?"

"I like harbinger of change…" Victoria muttered. "Not sure how I bring order though."

Greg shrugged. "The system is pretty orderly. Codifying power and granting it to everyone, to unknown effect. Order and chaos."

Victoria cocked her head, before nodding. "Okay, fair. How about Chris?"

Andrew snorted. "Uncaring savior. Obviously."

Victoria frowned. "It fits, but I'm not sure if it gets all of Chris… you need something rulery in there."

"Also, I'd go for apathetic over uncaring." Greg added. "Not much difference I suppose, it just seems to fit better to me."

Andrew cocked his head. "Lord of the apathetic dawn?"

"Weird, but oddly fitting." Victoria muttered, before letting out a snort. "Just like Chris."

"Ha! Yeah, that works." Greg laughed.

Ver'varia watched the three of them with a nervous expression. This- was far above what she'd been prepared to deal with when she decided to work with these people. She briefly considered whether it would have been smarter to turn them in, but she was absolutely certain that would have gone very poorly for her, particularly with what she knew now. She wasn't certain that these people were actually gods, but they were definitely powerful and definitely willing to use that power. And if that power was truly unrelated to ability energy… she didn't understand how that was possible, but it would definitely make them something more than mortal. She really hoped these people weren't just insane.

"Alright, so, ability core?" Greg held out his hand to Ver'varia again. "And what oath do you think I should take?"

"How about you swear not to call me a demonic god?" Andrew suggested blandly.

"I would never forsake the truth like that!" Greg retorted.

"Just swear to never tell anyone the sky is green." Victoria rolled her eyes.

"You- you can't make a frivolous oath like that." Ver'varia interjected. "If you aren't completely serious, your ability energy won't resonate with the core."

"I take the fact that the sky isn't green very seriously." Greg replied in a severe tone. "I would never tell someone the sky is green! Now give me that ability core."

Ver'varia frowned at him, unable to tell if he was being serious or not, before letting out a sigh and handing the ability core to him. "Fine. All that will happen is it won't work."

"Oh, it'll work." Greg assured her, taking the core and placing it against his forehead, before pausing. "How do I do this?"

"Just say I, your full name, then the rest of the oath." Ver'varia explained.

"Alright." Greg nodded, taking a breath as he focused on the core. "I, Gregory Obadiah Halver, swear to never tell anyone that the sky is green." He swore, as the core flashed and crumbled to dust. "Huh, neat." He paused for a moment as Ver'varia stared at him in sheer disbelief. "Is it wrong that I really want to tell someone the sky is you know what now?"

"Yes, now shush." Victoria waved him down as she narrowed her eyes, studying his ability energy. As he'd made the oath, his ability energy had vibrated with the core, and a small packet had been absorbed into him, nesting in his own core, waiting there for the trigger. "Interesting… Andrew, you have anything?"

"His aura briefly entered the core, but that's it." Andrew replied. "What did you see?"

"It made an energy packet which is sitting in his ability core right now." Victoria answered. "I'm going to want to see what happens when you break the oath, but that can wait."

Greg perked up before slumping in disappointment. "Damn it! The urge is real guys."

Ver'varia grimaced at him. "You are utterly ridiculous, you know that?"

Greg grinned at her. "Lady, you haven't seen anything yet."